Private Greenberry Hughes, 3rd Confederate Cavalry, Company K

One of my Great Uncles, Greenberry Hughes, moved to DeKalb County, Alabama with his new bride to live with his brother, David Durham Hughes in the late 1850's, before the outbreak of the Civil War. He and his brother enlisted with the 3rd Confederate Cavalry at Lebanon, Alabama in August of 1862 for a period of three years. Private Greenberry Hughes of Company K was captured by Union forces led by Major General George H. Thomas in a skirmish near Charleston, Tennessee on December 28, 1863. He eventually ended up at the Rock Island Prison Camp near Rock Island, Illinois on January 20, 1864 after brief stops in Nashville, TN and Louisville, KY. The Rock Island Prison Camp became infamous during the Civil War because the doctors there used the prisoners of war to conduct medical experiments. Private Greenberry Hughes died on February 16, 1864 and the official cause of death was listed as "pneumonia." The POW's arrived at these prison camps with tattered clothes, very little in the way of shoes, and were expected to survive an Illinois winter with minimal shelter and not much in the way of heat. Private Hughes is buried in Grave #549 and the headstone reads "549, G.B. Hughes, Co. K, 3 Confed. Reg., C.S.A."